Mga Pahina

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

What Do Spoilers Spoil?

What
is spoiling-spoiling in a reader's point of view? How many times have
we heard or seen a “spoiler alert”? How many times have we heard
people say do not spoil something and attaches a rude comment on the
sentence? Countless times.

People
blurt out surprises. They give away secrets. Why do people like to
spoil things for everyone? What are their motives? I researched on
this matter before I wrote this and I read a quote, something like
“Surprise isn't the single most important part of a story.” Which
is true, in my opinion. I'll explain this further later.

So
what's the drive to this spoil sport?

Showing-Off.
I couldn't agree more on this. Some people post or say spoilers just
because they simply enjoy being know-it-alls. These people who know
the way a story ends are enjoying an insider status. “You know
something special, and the only way you can demonstrate that you know
it is to tell it to people, regardless
of the effects it has on them.”

Intimidation.
Some
of these heartless people enjoy spoiling the ending of book or
anything just because
they want to scare fake or noob fans.
It's like frightening neophytes which is I also think is a form of
online bullying. (coughs) We now have the cyber-crime law, mind you.

Freedom
of Speech. These
people doesn't want anyone telling them what to do or what to say or
anything. The more you hold them back the more they will want to do
it. They don't want their freedom deprived to say something just
because people doesn't want them to. They have this thought like
“this
is social media, I can say what I want and do as I want as long as
I'm not doing anything against the law”.
I actually fall into this category. I admit, I've also spoiled a
couple of times but I don't do it to show-off or to intimidate anyone
but just because I want to express my feelings is all and at least I
limit them.

One
universal fact that I just needed to state: SPOILERS
ARE INEVITABLE.
You can never get rid of them, there will always be spoilers in any
social site, even in person. As the trees grow out the earth by the
cause of nature, so are spoilers in literature. It's not always
possible, or practical to avoid spoilers. And there are differences
of opinion about what exactly is or isn't a spoiler. There are
countless opportunities for people who like to spoil things to pretty
much ruin everything and we can do nothing to avoid them.

As
I've been a reader for long now, here's my opinion:

I
don't have anything against spoilers. Through the years, I realized
there's nothing I can do to stop it so I've learned to accept it. It
doesn't matter to me anymore. So what if I've learned that an
essential character in the story has died? Doesn't matter to me, I
wouldn't believe it unless I've read it myself. And I've learned to
make myself one step ahead of those people who might spoil me by
reading the book before them. And it's actually almost satisfying and
I'm proud myself.

As
for those who constantly spoils
just because they want to show-off or intimidate everyone, I suggest
you stop. Or if you don't want, well at least limit yourselves.
You're selfish, I understand that but think it over first before you
post anything that most people might not want. Spoil all you want but
you can never intimidate or show-off to me, I assure you that. Spoil
something in my face and I won't care, I'll just go on with my life
and think you're a good-for-nothing kind of person and I just might
laugh at your face for being so pathetic and useless and I won't be
sorry.

To
those people who are constantly complaining about spoilers here's the
thing:

DON'T
GO ONLINE. It's that simple, actually. If you don't want to get
spoiled don't go online. And vice-versa. If you don't go online, you
don't get spoiled. I know that's a hard thing to do but you should
try your best if you really really hate spoilers. But if you do want
to get spoiled, risk getting online. Don't even ever complain to me
if you get spoiled by my tweets or anything, or I just might loathe
you for it. Why
would you go online in the first place if you know you might get
spoiled? How foolish.

I'll
leave you with a quote though,

“I
do what I can do to avoid active spoilers--like tweets or
articles--but at a certain point you have to live in the world.” -
Alan Sepinwall